Drain-cock-operating mechanism.



:PATBNTBD MAY 19,1903..

` y No. 729,491.

, H.W.MbooMBs. 1111111110001: OPERATING MEGHANISM.

' vAPPLICATION FILEDl DBU. 2911902l wwf/5.

- supplemental cylinder and the other conduit'l communicating with theother end o f the It has been custom UNO. 728,491.

UNITED 4STATES PATENT OFFICE.

DRAIN-oooK-oPERATING Meel-imism.

SPECIFICATION forming part cf Letters PatentvvNO.' 728,491, dated May19, 1903.

Application filed December 29,1902; Serial llo. 136.935. (IlenieiieldYTo all whom it may concern: Y

Be it known that I, HENRY W. MoCoMBs, a citizen of the UnitedStates, anda resident of Boston, in the county of Suffolk and State ofMassachusetts, have invented new and useful Improvements inDrain-Cock-Operating Mechanism, of which the following is a specication..Y j Y My invention relates to mechanism for draining engine-cylindersof condensation.

-In connection with engines,-and locomotives in particular, it hasbeencustomary to provide eachcylinder thereof with a pair ofdrain-pipes, one at each end of thel cylinder, for removingcondensation. These two drainpipes havel been controlled by a pairofvalves, commonly-called relief-valves, operated in some cases by pistonsin supplemental cylinders connected with a sourceof fluid-pressure by apair o f conduits, one of said conduits communicating with one end ofeach supplemental cylinder. ary also to provide an engineers valve, lo,-

oatedin the cab of the locomotive, .for conf,A

trolling the pair of conduits :which connectw the supplemental cylinderwith the .supply of fluid under pressure. By means of this valve theengineer could operate thepistons in the supplemental cylinders at will-and through the pistons operate the valves controlling thedrain-conduits, so as to open and close them to remove condensation fromthe cylinders of the engine. 1

In my Patent No.651,8179, dated June 19, 1900, acylinder-reliefmechanism much the same as that Vabove described is fully shown;

but it may be remarked here that heretofore v the engineers valvedescribed has required a voluntary act of the engineer to eifect eachmovement thereof-that is to say, said valve normally occupied anintermediate position with the cylinder cut off from the supply ofiuid-pressure-and in order to open the engine-cylinder-relief valves theengineer shiftled his valve from its .intermediate position in onedirection, and to close the engine-cylinder-relief valves the engineershifted his valve from that extreme position back to and thenbeyond itsintermediate position in the opposite direction, after which he returnedY the valve toits intermediate position. Thus it will be seen that theengineer was required to return the engineers valve to its intermediateclosed positionfrom'either extremeposition, 4'and since a continuedpressure in the supplemental cylinders is unnecessary after the pistonsthereof "have been operatedvthe result of the engineerfs neglect orfailure to close the valve'after opening it for the purpose ofoperating-the supplemental pistons has heretofore been the -wastage ofthe iuid underjpressur'e through itsescape past the supplementalpistonsorotherwise. In prac- .tice this wastage of the liuid underpressure, due to the engineers failure to close the valve, has beenfoundhighly objectionable, particularly when the 'luidpressure.` isobtained from'the engine or main reservoir of the air-brake system ofthe train., Y

My invention has vfor its object to lessen the .amount of attention vandlabor required Patented May 19, 1903. l l

of the engineer in using systems ofthe character above described and ,tomake part of.

veconom'izfe in .the use'o'fgthe; Iiuid under pressure by preventing thewastage of the same,

which has heretoforeresulted from the ineglect or failure of theengineer to close thecontrolling-valvefr To these ends I combine with asupplemental cylinderandpiston a pair of conduits connecting thecylinder with a source of Huid-pressure, a pai-r of automaticallyclosingvalves, onev in each conduit,y and a single valve-operatingfmembercommon to both valves.

L In lthebest form-otmyinvention as herein shown each end of thesupplemental cylinder is connected by awseparate conduit with asourceQffluid-pressure, and a separate valve is'provided ineachconduit,:adaptedto be opened manually and to close automatically. Bythis construction the piston in the' supplemental cylinder is movedpositively by fluid-pressure in both directions, which,while notessential to all forms of my invention, is best for allpracticalpurposes.

Also in the best formvof my invention a singlevalve-operating member isprovided for controlling both valves and by'which either valve may beopened independently and to the exclusion ofthe other and which isitself operated and returned to normal position bythe automatic closingof either valve.

Another feature of myinvention resides in a duplex valve of novelConstruction, which is particularly well fitted for controlling thesupply of fluid-pressure to a supplemental cylinder. As herein shown`this valve comprises a casing provided with two conduits, in each ofwhich is a valve and a valve-operating member mounted on the casing andadapted to control both of said valves. Although this valve, as stated,is particularly adapted for the use above described, yet I do not limitthis feature of my invention in this respect, for it will be obviousthat a duplex valve so constructed is a new article of manufacture andmay be used separately in other connections.

Other features of my invention are hereinafter pointed out.

In the accompanyingdrawngs, which show one embodiment of my invention,Figure 1 is a View, partly in elevation and partly in perspective, of acylinder-relief mechanism embodying the invention. Fig. 2 is a centrallongitudinal section of the valve hereinafter described. Fig. 3 is asection on line 3 3 of Fig. 2. Fig. 4 is a section on linelll of Fig. 2.

Referring to the drawings, l represents the cylinder of an engine-alocomotive, for instance. At each end of the cylinder 1 the usual drainor relief conduits 2 2 are provided, through which the cylinder l is atintervals drained or relieved of condensation. The conduits 2 2 are eachnormally closed by a valve 3, whose stem l projects into a supplementalcylinder 5,within which is arranged a tapered piston 6. The piston 6maybe reciprocated in its cylinder 5 by admitting iluid under pressureinto said cylinder alternately through pipes 7 and 8. The pipes 7 and 8may be connected with the air-brake system ot' the train either directlyor through an auxiliary reservoir, or, if desired, they may be connectedwith the boiler of the locomotive. W hen fluid under pressure isadmitted to the cylinders at their inner or proximate ends through pipes8, each piston is driven to the opposite end of its cylinder, and theact-ion of the tapered part of each piston is to lift and open its valve3, past which the condensation from cylinder 1 passes to and through aport 9, from which it discharges onto the ground. To close valves3,fluid under pressure is admitted to cylinders 5 through pipe 7, andeach piston 6 is driven back to the opposite end ot' its cylinder, whichallows valves 3 to close onto their seats. The abovedescribedconstruction is substantially the same asin my Patent No. 651,873, datedJune 19, 1900, which may be referred to for an eX- planation of details.

Each of the pipes 7 and 8 communicates with one of two ports 10,provided in a valvecasing 11. Each port 10 is normally closed by a valve12, held on its seat bya spring 13, compressed between its valve 12 anda removable plug 14. The stem l16 of each valve 12 extends through astuffing-box 17 to the outside of casing 1l,with the outer end of eachstem in the path of one of two oppositely-disposed arms 18 on avalve-operating member 19. The valve-operating member 19 is herein shownas a lever, pivoted at 20 to a lug on the casing l1, and by grasping thefree end thereof the operator may rock it in either direction andoperate either valve to the exclusion of the other, springs 13 returningthe valves automatically to their seats and member 19 to its normalposition when released.

Each port 10 communicates through ports 2l and 22 in casing 1l with oneend-of apipe 23, through which fluid under pressure is conveyed to ports10.

Vhen cylinder 1 is to be drained of condensation, the operator swingslever 19 to the left, Fig. 1, which'opens the valve 12 controlling pipe8, thus admitting fluid under pressure to one end of each cylinder 5 anddriving pistons 6 to the opposite ends of said cylinders. This opensvalves 3 and allows the condensation to escape from the cylinder throughports 9. After having swung lever 19 in the direction above describedthe operator may release it, and the compressed spring 13 being therebyfreed will automatically return its valve onto its seat and lever 19 toits upright normal position with both valves closed.

After the cylinder 1 has been drained of condensation the operatorswings lever 19 in the opposite direction, which opens the valve 12 ofpipe 7, thus admitting {luid-pressure to cylinders 5 upon the oppositeside of each piston 6, which returns each piston to its first positionand closes valve. 3. The release of lever 19 by the operator frees thecompressed spring of the last-opened valve and allows it toautomatically close said valve and return lever 19 to its intermediatenormal position with all of the parts of the mechanism back into normalposition.

In each end of each supplemental cylinder 5 I provide a small exhausthole or port e, which is constantly open. The ports e are so small thatthey do not sensibly affect the operation of the pistons 6 when fluidunder pressure is admitted from the conduit 7 orS; but as soon aspressure is cut olf these ports reduce the internal pressure to that ofthe atmosphere.

By means of a socket 23' the casing 11 may be fastened in place Withinthe cab of the locomotive to any suitable support.

My improved mechanism does not require as much attention and labor ofthe engineer as has heretofore been the case, for by simply strikinglever 19 on one side, and thereby momentarily opening one valve, thesupplemental pistons are moved in one direction, and by simply strikingthe lever 19 on the opposite side, and thereby momentarily opening theother valve, the supplemental pistons IOO IIO

may be returned to their first position,the closing of the valvesautomatically returning the lever to its normal intermediate position.It will also be clear that the automatic closing of the valves preventswastage, which has heretofore resulted from the engineers failureY toclose the controlling-valve, which failure was not due so much, perhaps,to neglect of duty as to the engineers attention being required forothers of the many duties required of him. l

What I claim is- 1. The combination with a supplemental cylinderandpiston, of a pair of independent conduits connecting the cylinderwith a source of Huid-pressure, a pair of independentautomatically-closing admission-valves, one in each conduit, and asingle valve-oper-A ating member common to both valves.v

2. The combination with the supplemental cylinder and piston, of a pairof independent conduits connecting the cylinder with a source ofuid-pressure, a pair of independent automatically-closingadmission-valves one ineach conduit, and a single valve-operating-membercommon to both valves, by which either valve may be opened independentlyand to the exclusion of the other, and which is itself returned tonormal position by the automatic closing of either valve.

v3. The combi nation, with the supplemental cylinder and piston, of apair of independent conduits connecting the cylinder with a December,1902. V

. HENRY W. MCCOMBS.

Witnesses:

JOSEPH T. BRENNAN, ARTHUR F. RANDALL.

